In the Night
by moeruhoshi
Summary: Lucy was sure someone was out there, watching her every night. And as scared as she should have been, she couldn't help but feel safe.


**If you're like beech wut I already read this, I reposted it with edits**

 **but if you haven't, eyyyy welcome to my channel**

 **I write a lot of smut and endlu and young NaLu AU's so yeah I'm pretty cool**

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Lucy always felt like she was being watched. Not necessarily in a wrong way, she should have been scared if she felt eyes on the back of her neck, but whoever they were, if she was really being watched, made her feel protected.

She was your average English teacher, spent the day with students and ate with the friends who worked with her, made her way to the bookstore to visit Levy, went grocery shopping for her next meal, and then went home. Her neighborhood was safe, everyone knew everyone for the most part. She liked to spend her weekends reading or going to the mall when she had extra savings. The trustees that took over her father's company would call to make sure she was well, and their rival's son would 'run into her' on the often when she was out enjoying the day. Loke wouldn't give up on having her hand in marriage, the blonde always waving his request off with a laugh and enjoyed a cup of tea with him until one of his many 'girlfriends' called for a hookup. It was a peaceful and seemingly bland lifestyle on the outside, but she enjoyed every second of it.

It was when she was walking alone at night that she felt these mysterious eyes, goosebumps rose on her skin and she whipped her head around only to see that the streets were empty. Lucy didn't feel entirely safe at first, almost had Erza walk her to her apartment when it got late, but a strangely soothing sensation calmed any fear she experienced. She was being watched, sure, but whoever it was made sure she was okay like it was checking up on her.

Which to other girls, would have them instantly dialing for the cops and anyone else they could get in contact with, but she was weird. A 'compliment' her friends often gave the blonde, but she knew herself, and it was true. She would write the feeling in letters to her mother, wondering if she were about to meet someone from another realm like in half the books she'd read and reread her whole life. It was a bit cliche to think so, but she wouldn't put the idea to rest; if not a mysterious stranger obsessed with her image, it was probably the spirits of her parents watching over her.

"You need to be more careful, Lucy," Levy sighed as the two sat down to dinner one night. "It's nice to think of things in a mythical sense, but this is the real world. You don't know who might actually be following you home."

"I know..." She grumbled and slowly twirled her pasta on her fork.

"I really don't think you do," The blunette pouted and shoved her own fork towards her. "I'll have Gajeel take you home if I keep hearing about this. We're not girls anymore, dreaming up a story like this can't end well."

Days became weeks and weeks became a month, the sensation always following her at night, disappearing as soon as she woke up the next morning. There were a couple of times she closed the window above her bed only to find it wide open, the cold air nipping at her; surely then it had to be the wind. She lived on the fourth floor for goodness sake. But then came about appearances of strange purple marks on her arms, some on her chest and stomach, a couple hidden on her inner thigh.

She was glad the weather became cold, turtlenecks hiding the surprisingly deep blemishes settled in the crook of her neck. She flushed at the sight of it in the mirror, somehow her internal thoughts still couldn't point to the possibility of a whacked out stalker. It was virtually impossible that anyone other than a supernatural being could enter her room anyways. It felt like her own story was acting itself out and Lucy was curious to see just who was her late night visitor. Of course, if there were a crazed stalker breaking into her home, she would immediately kick the living crap out of them, but she was optomistic…entirely too optimistic.

The next night Lucy had before her next day off, she left her window unlocked and shoved pillows under her blanket to mimic a sleeping body. She sat on her couch and waited a bit too eagerly, not noticing as she began to nod off at the hours approaching midnight. She usually had no problem accidentally staying up till three, but without a good book, the creaking of her window went unnoticed.

She groaned as the sunlight streamed through the crack in the curtains, Lucy shoving a pillow over her face as she tried to fall back asleep. The blonde gasped and shot forward, just when had she made her way into bed? She jumped up to observe herself in the long mirror, failing to find any new marks adorned on her skin. It had been a couple of weeks since the last anyhow, Lucy unsure of what to do at this point. She wasn't going to risk her mentality by downing coffee all night long; that was only appropriate when grading final exams. She willed herself to wake up if he came again, praying to the goddess of calculation and planning to help her out just this once.

The thought donned on her at least, whoever came in was kind enough to put her into bed.

Lucy didn't realize how much of a deep sleeper she was until the endless charade of bite marks and hickeys, surprised when she felt unknown heat greet her only a couple hours after having fallen asleep. She heard delighted whispers in her ear, a husky voice telling her how excited he was to hold her again. He caressed the ends of her hair, kissed her forehead delicately, and absorbed himself in her scent. Her eyes fluttered open as he cuddled happily against her, heart pounding in anticipation as she listened to the stream of soft purrs erupting from his throat. She turned to see pink hair, fingers tingling as she gave them an experimental feel. The boy on top of her froze of a moment before picking up his head and meeting the wide brown eyes of his target.

"You're awake," He breathed, Lucy flushing as his lips pulled into the widest grin she had ever seen. His features, of course, were the most surprising, red scales littered the sides of his face and ran down his neck, black horns poking their way out of his scalp and hidden in his wildly soft locks.

"You…" She began, but he was off of her in a second and out the window, Lucy losing him in the shadows. The teacher was thankful it as winter break at the time, some almost sleepless nights waiting for the boy, well, man, to come back.

He seemed to have smiled so lovingly when he saw her, what had she done to spook him off? Was she not supposed to see him? And it had been a long time since anyone spoke such simply sweet words to her, she knew she should have been less trusting, but he seemed too kind to do any actual harm. Save for whatever he was capable of, not being a human and all.

After a Christmas party that went well past midnight, Lucy finally trudged through her door, shook off the snow and sighed in relief as her heated apartment wrapped its arms around her. Discarding her multiple layers on the coat rack, she skipped upstairs to eagerly crawl under the covers to dream with good memories of a fun night. She yelped at the sight of the mystery man sitting on her bed, surprisingly more human than their last encounter, his face brightening up as she walked in.

"You're home! I was so worried!" He sighed in relief as he got up to hug her, Lucy justifiably stiff in his thick arms.

"U-Um, don't you usually follow me around?" She asked suspiciously, the boy pulling back to nod with a smile.

"I couldn't sniff you out with all this snow around, it waters down your scent." He turned to the window and stuck his tongue at the still falling element, Lucy holding back a snort at his childish ways. "I'll see you around then, Luce."

"W-Wait!" She grabbed his arm as he turned to leave, the dragon hybrid curiously raising an eyebrow at her actions.

"You know I can't stay, I would if I could." He groaned, weakly trying to free himself from her hold.

"But you never let me see you, I don't even know your name," She frowned as he ruffled her hair, another wide grin striking her heart.

"It's Natsu!"

He didn't show up for the next few weeks, at least Natsu didn't leave any evidence that he had made an appearance. He knew her name even before they had spoken and already came up with a nickname for her... just who was he? It was rare if ever as well for her to feel him watching; either he lost interest and left for whatever reason or Lucy was simply not allowed to know if he was there or not.

It was summer before she knew it, and Lucy read into the night hoping to catch Natsu once again. She was too responsible to allow her sleep schedule to get any more screwed up, so she let herself to fall asleep before midnight and subsequently lost any chance to meet the pink haired person...demon?

She stepped out of the house late one night to feed an ice cream craving, taking a short walk to the convenience store nearby to cool herself down with an iced treat. In and out in a quick minute, a frown graced her lips as a group of guys loitering wouldn't stop trying to hit on her. She ignored them and kept walking, squealing into a palm that covered her mouth as she rounded the corner. Two out of the three attempted to shove her into an alley, Lucy kicking and struggling with them until the third appeared with a knife. She whimpered as they told her to stay quiet, one bastard already fumbling with the buckle of his belt. The blonde gagged as they shared wild and sick grins, holding her down and tearing her clothes, Lucy useless to save herself with a weapon held against her neck.

"Don't you _dare_ touch my woman," Lucy's heart clenched at the familiar sound of Natsu's voice, smoke following as he stood in front of them, fists lit with a brilliant flame. Her body shuddered as he stood over her, the three obviously terrified of the demon before them, making a run for it before he could turn their bodies to ashes. Natsu was quick to drop to his knees and check of injuries, Lucy doing nothing but beg for him to take her home, tears flowing from her eyes as the reality of the assault sunk into her mind. He caressed her gently to his chest, practically a hop, skip, and jump till he was pushing them both through her window. He stayed to comfort her that night, Lucy's heart dropping as the morning followed and he was nowhere to be found.

She was grateful to see him again the following night, Natsu coming back just as she was crawling into bed.

"You're alright, aren't you? I can go find those guys and melt the skin from their bones if it makes you feel better." Lucy laughed and shook her head, cozying up to his chest as he held her.

"Please just stay, you never let me see you," She sighed as he groaned, lifting her head to meet his sad eyes.

"I know, Luce. But it's bad enough already that I keep comin' to see you. They're not real happy that I keep leaving even though I hafta make sure I protect ya."

"Oh…" She sighed, not bothering asking for a more detailed explanation, other questions in her heart begging to be answered first. "Could you tell me something?"

He nodded, and she blushed a bit, hiding against his chest and refused to make eye contact.

"…you don't leave any purple marks on me anymore, is there a reason for that?" She mumbled as she could feel his throat rumble with an embarrassed moan.

"I figured that Loke guy would take the hint if I left them, not that he could see them anyways," He muttered, hand brushing against the now healed skin of her neck. "And here… I got carried away, you just have the best scent, Luce."

She flushed, heart, hammering in his chest at the confession, Lucy somehow excited that he had gotten jealous over Loke.

"What am I to you?" She asked, her tone breathless as she braved a look into his eyes, finding their onyx color especially hypnotic. They smiled as he spoke, his claim of love so vast that it had taken him years to gain the strength to leave his world, to find the one connected to him by fate. There was no doubt in his mind nor soul that Lucy was the one meant to with him. He laid her to sleep, grinning as he promised another visit, a sweet peck to her forehead before he was off once again into the night.


End file.
